Google

Google took a simple concept - text keywords - and became an Internet leader. In most markets, Google has the search market share lead and management is looking to expand into new markets. The search giant hasn't quite found its next big hit, but Google Apps and Android are promising extensions of the business. The game plan for Google: Expand into new markets like mobile and grow advertising revenue. Google is also dabbling in everything from broadband to power management to alternative energy. The company is well positioned to benefit from cloud computing and the consumerization of IT.

Google is teaming up with three not-for-profit organisations to help train and raise the STEM capabilities of underrepresented groups, including women, low socio-economic groups, and Indigenous Australians.

Compiled from ZDNet's Google Voice article series, Mastering Google Voice: A primer for home users and small businesses owners, gives you just about everything you need to know to get the most out of Google...

Following feedback from its users, Google+ is getting a makeover, with the search engine giant admitting that decisions it had made in the social networking space previously, were not necessarily the best, and it will start with decoupling YouTube comments.

One of my favorite things out of Google I/O is the new Google Photos app for iOS, Android, and your web browser. Google brings its search technology to photo organization and helps take away some frustrations with digital photos.

Google Chrome is my browser of choice on both Windows and Mac, and all in all it's a great browser. However, with the addition of a few extensions, a great browsing experience can be transformed into a superb browsing experience.

The products, the leaders, the rivals, the roadmaps: ZDNet's 'Hot Topics' webcast delivers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing these three technology giants. Join host Jonas Tichenor, ZDNet Editor Andrew Nusca, as well as CNET's Dan Farber and Josh Lowensohn for an in-depth look at who may be standing out among the big three.

At the GigaOm Net:Work conference in San Francisco, Google's Rajen Sheth talks about how the product development of Gmail inspired Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt to embrace cloud computing. The three at first "soundly rejected the idea" of Gmail because he was pitching it as packaged software, Sheth says. A few months later he came back with the concept of putting Gmail in the cloud.

Once you've found out what the weather's like in Ukraine, and asked what the meaning of life is, Apple's Siri assistant can seem pretty useless — doubly so, if you're in Australia. But if you team it up with Wolfram Alpha, you can get some nice results to questions with substance.

At a Google press event in Los Angeles, the company officially launches its music service and store. Now open to all, the service enables users to upload their music libraries to Google's servers, making those tunes available to stream on Android-based devices. Users can also now purchase songs from three major music labels.

At the Intel Developer Forum, Google announced it is teaming up with the chipmaker to optimize Android for Intel-powered mobile devices. Google Senior Vice President Andy Rubin made an appearance during the keynote address with Intel CEO Paul Otellini to announce that all future versions of Android will use the x86 chip architecture.

At the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff interviews Google Chairman Eric Schmidt about the state of the technology industry. Highlights include remarks about Apple's Steve Jobs, Motorola, and what's wrong with the current patent system.

Millions of Australians sat down this week to give the government a snapshot of what the country looks like and what its citizens are up to, but I don't think the census went far enough with its line of questioning.

ANZ Bank and Visa today issued a joint statement saying how much the bank's 50 staff loved their recent trial of a microSD-powered, Near Field Communication payments system, despite the bank saying on Monday that the microSD technology had not met all of its needs. We take a leaf out of the national broadcaster's book and investigate.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has revealed that it is currently building apps specifically for Research In Motion (RIM)'s new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, while voicing ongoing concerns over the security of Android-based banking.

At the company’s developers conference in San Francisco, Google's Sundar Pichai announces the first Chromebook laptops. Samsung and Acer will each be offering machines starting June 15. The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349.

At the Google I/O developers conference, the company rolled out updates for its Honeycomb tablet OS, announced the Ice Cream Sandwich mobile phone OS, and debuted new music-streaming and movie rental services.

The Nexus 9 is the first tablet to run Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and offers excellent performance plus impressive sound quality. There are drawbacks, though, including some build quality issues, a tendency to run warm and a premium price.

The 2013 Nexus 7 is a sleeker, lighter and better-specified device than last year's model. There's still no Micro-SD card support, but good all-round performance and battery life, plus a competitive price, add up to superb value for money.

Developers make good stress testers, and the initial Wave service has had a lot of testing in the last few months. We take a ride on the wave, which should be opening to a wider beta program at the end of September.

The much-hyped Google Android phone operating system will hit Australia on 29 January 2009, in the form of the Kogan Agora and Agora Pro. At first glance, this looks to be one of the most exciting products of the year.

Google Docs is a fantastic free online application that offers some exciting features. However, by virtue of being an online application, users with a slow connection will experience lag, and Docs still doesn't contain enough functionality to be a replacement for today's mainstay office suites in most businesses.